The Waiting Room
Tu qui carpis iter gressu properante, viator,
siste gradum, quaeso. quod peto, parva mora est.
oro ut praeteriens dicas: s(it) t(ibi) t(erra) l(evis).
You who sieze the journey with a hastening step, traveler, stop your walk, I ask. What I seek is a small delay. I beg that you, passing by, say: "May the eart be light for you."
The waiting room is the place where all the souls of the dead must wait their turn to cross the rivers on the boat of Charon and enter into Hades Proper. Those who received a proper burial must wait their turn to be ferried toward judgment whereas those whose bodies lie unburied must wait for their burial or a hundred years, whichever comes first, until they may find the paupers' entrance and continue their journey into death. Also in the waiting room, but on the other side of the rivers, wait infants and those who have killed themselves; as they left life before their allotted time, they may not enter Hades Proper.
Cara mieis vix, virgo vitam reddidi.
mortua heic ego sum et sum cinis, is cinis terrast,
sein est terra dea, ego sum dea, mortua non sum.
rogo te, hospes, noli ossa mea violare.
I lived dear to mine. As a virgin, I gave back life. I am dead, and I am ash, that ash is earth, the earth is goddess, I am goddess, I am not dead. I ask you, guest, do not violate my bones.
Return to First Level of the House of Hades
Sink further into the depths of the House of Hades and visit the The Third Level
© copyright Tyler Travillian July 7, 2000